Naveen Patnaik’s BJD wins Brajrajnagar by-poll in Odisha, BJP loses deposit

BJD candidate Alaka Mohanty wins Brajrajnagar assembly by-poll with a margin of 65,999 votes. While Alaka got 93,790 votes, Congress candidate Kishore Patel secured 27,791 votes. BJP ‘s Radharani Panda got 22,560 votes

Published on: Jun 3, 2022, 17:11:21 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday retained the Brajrajnagar assembly seat in Odisha with a margin of 65,999 votes, restoring the strength of the Naveen Patnaik government to 113 in the 147-member assembly.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD has won all assembly by-elections held in Odisha since 2019 when he returned to power with 112 seats to start his fifth term. (ANI)

The by-poll, held on May 31, was necessitated due to the death of the BJD’s incumbent legislator Kishore Kumar Mohanty. The party fielded his wife Alaka Mohanty, who received 93,790 votes, which was 61% of the total valid votes. It was an improvement over the results in 2019 when BJD candidate, her husband, secured about 80,152 votes, about 49.1% of the votes polled.

Friday’s victory for the BJD candidate was on expected lines.The BJD hasn’t lost a single by-poll since the 2019 assembly elections when BJD chief Naveen Patnaik returned to power with 112 seats to start his fifth term as the chief minister.

It was a reflection of this confidence that Patnaik did not campaign for the party candidate in the by-election. In by-elections held in the state since 2019, the BJD has retained Bijepur, Tirtol, Pipili assembly seats and snatched Balasore Sadar from the BJP.

The results announced on Friday, however, came as a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Radharani Panda, who won the seat in the 2014 state elections and was the runner-up in the 2019 elections. In Friday’s counting of votes, Radharani Panda was pushed to the number 3 spot by the Congress candidate, former forest minister Kishore Chandra Patel, and lost her security deposit.

The Congress was the runner up in the 2014 elections as well and ceded the seat to its alliance partner, the Communist Party of India in 2019.

A BJP leader blamed the lack of adequate boots on the ground and poor election management for the humiliating loss despite efforts by Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan who spent two days in the constituency to canvass for the candidate. The Congress, on the other hand, was able to mobilise its party workers after the party leadership in Delhi replaced Niranjan Patnaik as head of the state unit with Sarat Patnaik, a Congress leader said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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